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Brief History Of Led Zep

Led Zeppelin Band members:

Robert Plant - Vocals
Jimmy Page - Lead Guitar
John Paul Jones - Bass & Keyboard
John Bonham - Drums

Atlantic Records signed Led Zeppelin to a long-term exclusive recording contract. Although the exact of the deal are secret, it can be disclosed that it is one of the most substantial deals Atlantic has ever made.

Most of what followed was quick biography - Jimmy Page's history with The Yardbirds, where he had succeeded Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck as lead guitarist, and as one of the best and busiest session musicians in Britain; bassist John Paul Jones' success as an arranger of hit records for Donovan and The Rolling Stones, among many others. There were references to drummer John Bonham's already notorious solos as a member of American singer Tim Rose's touring band and to Robert Plant's blooming reputation as "one of England's outstanding young blues singers."

Top English and American rock musicians who heard the tracks compared them to Cream and Jimi Hendrix. This was whilst Hendrix still was alive and Cream were still fresh in the memory. Led Zeppelin opened their first North American tour in Denver, Colorado on December 26, 1968, they were third on a bill to Vanilla Fudge and Spirit and treated liked a doormat. The promoter deducted the cost of backstage food - this four loaves and five fishes thing - from the band's pay. At other dates, Robert Plant operated Zeppelin's P.A. system himself, onstage, and Bonham often played without miking his kit. In Detroit a local newspaper foe Led Zep's three-night stand at the Grande Ballroom annouced the appearence of "Led Zeptlin".

By the end of '69, Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham had torn through North America four times, each time to bigger, sold-out audiences and they also toured the UK four times. In Britain Zeppelin quickly followed Cream into the Royal Albert Hall, filling it in June '69 and again in January 1970. In that year Led Zeppelin also released two of the most...